(Recasts, adds analyst comment in paragraph nine)
By Edwina Gibbs
TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - Japanese minivehicle maker Suzuki Motor Corp said on Tuesday it has agreed to take a capital stake in a new Daewoo Motor Co, a move that should help it expand in Asia and share vehicle development costs.
Suzuki said in a statement that a basic agreement had been reached with General Motors Corp to invest in a new firm that will take over the assets of the failed South Korean car maker.
It said it was still considering operational cooperation but declined to give further details.
The move was flagged by the company earlier this month when it said it was considering such a step. Local media reports have put Suzuki's planned stake at around 15 percent, costing 10 to 15 billion yen ($82.22 million to $123.3 million).
In April, GM agreed to capitalise the new company through a $251 million cash investment, giving it the largest stake in the venture of 42.1 percent, with its business partners holding 24.9 percent.
Altogether, the investment by GM and its partners is expected to total $400 million.
The new Daewoo will operate two plants in South Korea and a car factory in Vietnam. It will also take over eight sales units outside Korea -- seven of them in Europe and one in Puerto Rico -- and a parts unit in the Netherlands.
Although the reported size of the stake is somewhat larger than first expected, analysts have largely reacted positively to a likely Suzuki stake in Daewoo, saying the holding will allow the minivehicle and small car maker to expand in Asia for a relatively small investment.
"In the medium- to long term, there's the benefits of cutting costs through sharing parts and platforms, and there is also potential for Suzuki to use Daewoo's factories as Suzuki is pretty much running at full capacity in Japan," said Tatsuo Yoshida, auto analyst at Deutsche Securities.
Yoshida added that by taking a stake in Daewoo, a rival in many of the same markets in developing countries, Suzuki would also be able to control potential competition to some extent.
But analysts also said that in the short-term, helping to rebuild the failed company could strain resources.
Suzuki's shares were mostly flat at the end of the morning session, up 0.07 percent at 1,470 in line with a 0.81 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average.